Conquering barriers in professor/student relationships
By RACHEL SHEPHERD
and JOE RUGGIERO
Assistant Editor Staff Reporter
Ahh. A new semester. A fresh start. A clean slate. Yet,
you are still worried. Your new calculus professor has
a reputation for being a hard-hitter. You have heard it
all: she is a tough grader, has a stringent class sched
ule and does not work well with other students. This
is one of many things you face in a small school envi
ronment.
Fortunately, you can put the hearsay behind you
because there may be ways to eliminate the profes
sor/student barrier. Professors at Penn State
Harrisburg demonstrate a willingness to help students
on an individual basis in and outside the classroom.
"Students will talk," explained Kamini Grahame,
assistant professor of community psychology and
sociology. "Professors have a reputation before they
begin a semester and that never really surprises me."
Grahame has discovered that, in her three years at
Penn State Harrisburg, students will assess profes
sors' teaching style and attitude and tell other stu
dents. She said it is important for students and profes
sors to begin the semester with an open mind. But,
she admits that is tough because of the student/pro
fessor line that is drawn.
"In high school, teachers appear to be at the other
side of the glass wall and because of that you are
afraid to approach a professor or ask questions," said
Billie Jones, assistant professor of English and writ
ing.
Eliminating this barrier takes some work on both
sides. Jones said she has seen two problem areas in
the communication process between professors and
students
"Sometimes we don't make our expectations clear,"
she said. "It is absolutely the faculty members respon
sibility to clarify what the expectations are, but it is
the students responsibility to seek that clarity."
Jones said the second communication problem lies
in the professor's ability to be accessible, "in the way
that they can act like a human being."
Brad Stump, elementary education, said he has
encountered situations in which professors act as if
they are superior to the students. "It comes down to
conforming to [his or] her ideas or not doing well."
To solve this, Stump tried to meet the professor on
middle ground. But often times, he said, students
must conform to obtain the goals of the class.
"A professor-student social relationship can be ben
eficial if both parties can work together to achieve the
goal," said Jones.
There are usually some indicators that students are
not doing well, in which case, professors may
approach a student. Low grades, as well as, lack of
attendance and participation can be cause for an inter
action to take place on behalf of the professor.
Unfortunately, Jones said, if a communication prob
lem exists, the responsibility lies on the student to act
first.
Grahame said students at Penn State Harrisburg,
show little interaction compared to other universities
in which she has taught, although she said e-mail is
helpful in triggering that communica
tion process.
"I encourage my students to talk to
me," said Grahame. "But it is also
important to develop a relationship
with your advisor."
Your advisor can give you techniques
for dealing with individual issues with
the professor because they are more
likely to know the professor and have
seen these issues before.
Peter Kareithi, associate professor of
humanities, said, as an advisor he feels
some responsibility to assist his
advisees with issues that may have an
impact on their scholarship. He tries to
initiate discussion between the student
and the professor. It is his hope that his
colleague will invite the student to dis
cuss how to resolve the problem Mechanical Engineering Professor
between them. Tabatabi reviews Computer Aided
Sometimes the problem is not seen as
a barrier between professor/student, but homework with Eric Ganolini,
rather that professors and students can become too
close
"A teacher's social relationship with a student can
sometimes cross the line," said Jones.
She lent the example of students drinking with pro
fessors. "Drinking together can be a problem
because the openness goes farther."
Kareithi said that he treats students as individuals
beyond the classroom in order to find ways to reach
them in the classroom.
"There are risks to this approach," he said. "Some
students may try to take advantage of a teacher's
friendship."
He explained that some teachers may try to exploit a
student's friendship and
other faculty or students
can misconstrue the friend
ships
"Since the power rela
tions
-,
between teacher and
student favor the teacher,
gi
the teacher must figure
where to draw the line 44'
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between a friendship that
facilitates learning and an
unprofessional relation
ship,"
said Kareithi.
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Grahame explained that it ti
is not uncommon for stu
dents
on a graduate level to S:
be close to professors ;<'2
because of the detailed 1,
nature of their coursework.
"The professor and the
student will work close
together on research proj
ects and other detailed
1.4
work that students on the 5,)
undergraduate level do not kl
iS
get the chance to do," said
Grahame.
Jones emphasized that the
student/professor relation- e
ship is symbiotic. "It is
great to know that the
teacher is learning and that ri
the teaching is open to •"?
learning," said Jones.
Adriana Stroh, communi- *
cations, said she has
always found her profes-
,
sors willing to take the time and answer any questions
she has even outside of normal class time.
"Even if I can't make it to their office during their
designated office hours, I have found that most of the
teachers are willing to make some time and arrange a
different time to meet with me," said Stroh. "From
my experience at PSU Harrisburg, [the professors]
care about the students and are willing to make time
to help students out."
Kareithi said that traditional school of thinking sup
ports the clear division of the lines of power between
teachers and students. "I am not into that," he said. "I
learned as much from my students as I teach them. I
call my approach 'interactive learning.'"
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